A ritual in which low-caste tribal Indians roll in food left over from a feast for high-caste Hindus has sparked a dispute after participants fought attempts by social activists to ban the practice.

The "made snana" ceremony, which ended on Wednesday at the Subrahmanya temple in the southern state of Karnataka, involves hundreds of people rolling on the floor after a meal served on large leaves to Brahmins.

The local Malekudiya tribe believes the ritual, which is held over a three-day annual festival, cleanses them of impurities and cures skin problems, the Indian media reported.

K.S. Shivaramu, an activist who demanded a ban of the "inhuman" and "unscientific" ceremony, was beaten up outside the temple as he lobbied police to intervene, the Hindu newspaper reported on Thursday.

"The practice of serving food inside the temple only for a particular caste should be stopped," he said, adding that rolling through food was "being done to perpetuate superstitious beliefs".

But Guraraj Bhat, a member of the Malekudiya tribe, said he had completed the practice of rolling through food for the last eight years.